Generally, messages on the forum are mostly plain text, however on occasion you may want to add
some formatting to your text, such as making certain words bold,italics,etc...

Since in most cases the admin does not permit you to use HTML inside your posts, you can use FUDcode, which is a special
set of tags that allows you to apply certain formatting to your text. FUDcode is very easy to use and is a lot more secure then HTML.

Here is a list of the supported FUDcode tags & short examples on it's usageURL Hyperlinking

The forum can automatically pick up on many forms of URLs, for example:

http://fud.prohost.org

will be automatically picked up as a URL and converted to a valid URL, which will look like this:

which produces the text exactly as it was typed maintaining the formatting.

No Tag
The [notag][/notag] tag allows you to have the text inside
the tags not be parsed by the FUDforum's tag parser. This allows you to give examples of FUDcode
and not have them converted to equivalent HTML.

Horizontal Line Tag
The [hr] tag allows you to draw horizontal line on screen, this
is the equivalent of the HTML <hr> tag.
it used like this: [hr]

which produces:

Spoiler
The [spoiler][/spoiler] tag allows you to hide a portion of message
from being displayed. To see the hidden portion the users must click a link that will display the
hidden portion of the text. Internally this is accomplished by JavaScript so the page is not actually
reloaded, instead a hidden layer is made visible.

Here is an example of this tag in action:
Visible part of the message
[spoiler]Hidden part of the message
[/spoiler]
More visible text.

Acronym
The [acronym][/acronym] tag allows you to identify the text as an
acronym and provide a full name when the user moves their mouse over the tag.
[acronym=Fast Uncompromising Discussion Forum]FUDforum[/acronym] produces FUDforum.

Wikipedia
The [wikipedia][/wikipedia] tag allows you to create a reference to a wikipedia page based on the subject.
To use the tag, surround the term with [wikipedia] tags, if you want to link to a particular wikipedia mirror you can use [wikipedia=ca] format
for openning the tag, where ca is the prefix of the mirror. For example:
[wikipedia=ca]FUDforum[/wikipedia] produces FUDforum.

You may also find that the administrator has enabled smilies, which allow
you to use small icons to convey emotion, and the [img] code, which allows
you to add pictures to your message.

Smilies are small icons that you can insert into your message to convey various emotions & feelings.
If smilies are enabled, a list of smilies supported by the forum will be listed above the message box where you type your message.
Clicking on a smiley, will insert that smiley into your message.
Common smilies may automatically be replaced with their equivalent images, if you do not wish for that to happen, click on the
Disable Smilies checkbox.

In certain forums you may have the ability to include polls inside your messages. Polls allow you to ask a question and
provide a number of answers other forum members may choose from. For the sake of accuracy only registered users may cast in
their votes.
When you click on the CREATE POLL link, located on the post page a pop-up will appear allowing to create a poll with several
potential multiple choice answers. When you are done, simply click on the Edit button and you will be taken back to the post page
and then poll you've created will be attached to the message.
You can edit an existing poll, by clicking on the EDIT link, or you can remove the poll entirely by click on the DELETE.

You will only have 1 opportunity to vote in a poll, so make your decision careful, you will not be able to change it at a later point.

If allowed by administrator, you may attach one or more files to your normal as well as private messages. This ability is
determined on a forum by forum basis, so while you may be able to attach files in one forum you may not be able to do so in another.
The post form will list 3 rules which apply to your file attachments:

Allowed File Types - a list of file types that you may attach to your message. ex. jpg, gif. pngMaximum File Size - the maximum size of each file that you may attach to your messageMaximum Files per Message - the number of files you can attach to your message.

To attach a file to a message, click the Browse button at the bottom of the post page. In response your browser will
open a dialog window allowing your to select a file you wish to upload from your hard drive. Once you've selected a file, click on the
Upload File button to attach the file to your message.
If you wish to remove any attached files, simply click on the Delete located to the right of the file.

Post icons are small images that you can choose to show beside your messages. They are most
commonly used to indicate the nature of your message or the feeling your are trying to convey.
If you do not see those icons on the post form, it means the administrator has disabled this feature.

If you are a registered member, you may be able to edit messages that you have previously posted. This option may be
time-limited, so it is possible that you'll be able to edit your recent posts, while unable to edit posts made a while ago.
If you edit your post, a small note will be prepended to your message, showing that this message was edited by you and indicate the time & date
of editing.
If a moderator or an administrator have edited your message you may or may not, depending on the forum settings see a note identifying the fact
that this message was edited.

Moderators are "super users" who generally oversee one or more forums. They have the ability to edit, delete, approve messages as well
as make forum announcements. These are the people to contact if you see something inappropriate being done in a forum they are moderating.
You may also address moderators if you have any questions in regard on how to use the forum.

Administrators are the controllers of the forum, they can do ANYTHING, so be polite when talking to them ;-). Administrator in addition to being
able to do everything a moderator can do, also can approve Avatars, assign & remove custom tags, block users and respond to various forum questions.
If you encounter any bugs with the forum, Administrator is the person to contact.

The administrator may choose to censor certain words, those words would be replaced by the administrator's chosen alternative. Censorship is forum wide,
so the same things you cannot see, other people will also not be able to see.

When you post a new topic or make a reply to an existing topic, you may choose to be notified via Email or ICQ (select via your profile)
of the replies. You can also subscribe to a topic without posting a reply, by clicking on the Subscribe link at the top of the page or if you
want you can subscribe to a forum, so that whenever a new topic is made in that forum you will receive a notification about it.

If you choose to stop receiving notifications from a topic or forum, you can click on the Un-subscribe link, while viewing that topic or forum.
Or go to the Subscriptions tab in your profile and remove the topic or forum from that list.